Where they filmed "The Martian"

I just saw The Martian, staring Matt Damon, last night and I can't say enough great things about this film. The pacing is incredible, it can go from lighthearted humor to some of the sweatiest-palm-scenes I have ever experienced in a movie. The Martian is set on the red planet and with NASA's recent announcement about discovery of water I began to see more and more similarities between Earth and Mars. It sparked my interest to know where they filmed the Mars look alike. It turns out, to approximate Mars’s dusty red environs, Ridley Scott shot the movie’s exteriors in Wadi Rum in southern Jordan. Also called the Valley of the Moon, this area looks about as Martian as you’re likely to find on Earth. 

While Wadi Rum may be the most popular earthly representation of the surface of Mars, it certainly isn’t the only one. With its stunning canyons and red rock formations, the American Southwest has also been a popular shooting spot. Andrew Stanton filmed his 2012 Mars-set space fantasia John Carter, in Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona, including in and among the otherworldly arches of Utah’s Canyonlands National Park.  

I have spent many years in southern Utah and have fallen in love with the geological formations. This passion encouraged me to start Jurassic Sands to help share the beauty of Utah's deserts and some of Earth's most beautiful natural phenomenons. The sand in The Martian looks very similar to our Original Jurassic Play Sand.